"Ms. Rosewood..." Kyle's voice was like a distant echo as I stumbled down the stairs.

I shook my head, refusing to cry. I shouldn't cry. Why should I cry? It wasn't my fault for being born as the eldest daughter. It wasn't my fault for coming here. It wasn't my fault to be so desperate to take the job. I just... I just wanted to earn some money.

"Just... leave me be. I can... find my way back," I muttered, tumbling towards the exit and harshly wiping my cheeks. 

Stop crying for hell's sake, Sera! 

A hand reached for me and I quickly slapped it away glaring at him. This time, I lost the battle with my tears, they didn't understand me, and without me knowing, they rolled down my cheeks.

"I don't need your pity! Just... I just..." My heart felt like a fragile glass, shattered into a thousand pieces and each damn piece was piercing through me. I have never felt so angry and humiliated like this in my whole life. Not when people treated me like a plague, or an outcast, not even when I embarrassed myself in front of the whole class. The storm inside me raged on swirling and howling like a hurricane.

Kyle's concerned gaze was suffocating, a weight pressing down on my chest, and I was desperate to escape it. I didn't need his pity. I brought this upon myself.

That spawn of the devil just humiliated me, and showed me my worth. At his feet. 

I hated him. I hated him for everything he did. 

The pieces of damn paper burned in my palm, their edges singeing my skin with the heat of my frustration and shame. 

"Please, just... let me be," I whispered, my voice breaking as the dam in my eyes failed to hold back the flood of tears. Without waiting for his reply, I turned on my heel, the cold wind whisking past me, biting and sharp.

I looked up at the sky, the grey clouds were heavy and swollen promising snow. The chill seeped into my bones, mingling with the storm of emotions inside me. And it did. As I walked down the pavement, the snowflakes fell over my shoulders like a fragment of my shattered pride.

My footsteps crunched against the hard ground. Taking me nowhere. It was like I was suddenly a shell, feeling numb. Before I realised it, I stumbled into a small, deserted park. The benches and trees stand silent and lonely, covered in a thin layer of snow.

I collapsed onto the bench, the cold seeping through my clothes and into my bones. My body trembled and strangely cold had nothing to do with it. I buried my face in my hands, the tears flowing freely now, my shoulders shook.

Why did it always have to be this way? Why did I have to fight so hard, only to end up here?

I looked up, my eyes were burning and I could tell they were red and swollen, and watched the snowflakes dance in the air almost mocking me.

For a moment, the world was silent, and I allowed myself to be lost in the quiet, the only sound was coming from my mouth, silent sobs.

I had never cried like this ever since my father died. I promised not to cry.

Yet, here I was, tears falling freely. Memories of him flooded my mind. The memories of him were suddenly crushed. His laughter echoed in the silence. I long for his comforting presence. Grief was a relentless storm. It broke down even the strongest walls. I promised not to cry. But promises could be fragile. Emotions couldn't always be controlled.

If he was here, he'd never let me be humiliated like this.

Oh God, why did I feel like I couldn't breathe anymore? 

My hands trembled as the mocking laughs pierced through my eardrums with the wrecking force. And my jaw clenched.

As the cold seeped into my bones, I felt every emotion. Hatred.

And longing. I missed my home, missed my Mom. But what would I say to her? That I gave up? It was a pure impulse I decided to be the man of the house, but sometimes, I wanted to stop pretending to be tough for everyone, myself included. Oftentimes, however, I wanted to be a little girl.

A girl.

Just a girl.

And as exaggerated as it sounded, I guess, it was not just him throwing money at me. But the power he had over me.

I felt like prey, consumed, lost in his dark light. And he, a predator regardless. A monster to be more precise. He not only hunted me but my fears and helplessness.

The air frizzled my hair and stuffed it in my eyes. I flipped them back and rubbed my palms on my lap.

I didn't know what he wanted from me, but the gruesome realisation I couldn't escape his hands was as terrifying. I might have underestimated him, taken his teasing and mocking as mere amusement, but today, it was something else that horrified me.

He was a man not to be messed with.

I learned my lesson. Hard way.

A sudden noise jerked me when I heard a snap from behind. It was almost unnoticeable, but I heard it and my body stilled.

I quickly looked over my shoulder but there was no one, only darkness and silence. A lamplight flickered in the distance. Once. Twice. And as it flickered for the third time, I let out a shaking breath.

Under the lamplight stood a man. For a moment, I would have thought him to be just some random person, but the shimmer on his wrist was mocking. He shifted, ever so slightly, and I caught a glimpse of his watch. Though I couldn't see it clearly, but the gold couldn't be ignored.

My heart hammered as recognition washed over me. 

He was the same man from that night.

The one I believed was stalking me.

Fear gripped me. My heart pounding like a frantic bird, wings in flight.

Ruins would often start on black nights. Cold, starless, sparkless and bleak nights. And this night promised everything evil. 

Every instinct screamed to run, but my feet felt like lead.

I forced myself to breathe, to think. The memories of that night crashed over me. His eyes had been cold, calculating. A predator's gaze. Now, here he was again, watching, waiting.

Stupid, stupid, Sera! Why did I have to run to a scheduled place knowing I had a stalker?

The lamplight flickered once more moulding creepy shadows around him.

The man didn't move, but his presence was suffocating. I had to get away, but how? My mind raced, searching for an escape. The street was deserted, the buildings around me silent and dark. I took a step back, then another. My pulse pounded in my ears.

The man took a step forward. The distance between us shrank. Panic surged through me. I had to do something, anything. My hand fumbled in my pocket for my phone, but it slipped from my grasp, clattering to the ground. I cursed under my breath, eyes never leaving the man.

He paused, a cruel smile spreading across his face. The gold watch caught the light again. I bent down slowly, never breaking eye contact, and grabbed my phone. My fingers shook as I dialled the only number I could think of.

His smile widened.

He knew I was scared.

He thrived on it.

Though the darkness barely exposed his face, unlike last time, he wore a long trench coat today. Buttoned from the front, his both hands pushed inside the pockets.

He didn't look homeless today either, so what was the purpose of haunting a broke person like me? What did he want? I neither had money nor anything valuable to give him.

His whole demeanour dripped with utter ease. It was too cool... too blank. A bit... amused, despite appearing emotionless and icy.

His hair appeared messy as he had been running his hand through it, and I watched as he put an unlit cigarette hung between his lips.

The light flickered again, and then it died down. The darkness wrapped around him like it was a part of him.

I swallowed the unease creeping up my throat, and it had little to do with the darkness and more with the person moulding it around him.

I couldn't see him anymore, and it took everything in me to look down at the screen. Damn, she wasn't picking. Panic surged and I had little time to run over my options. I didn't even know what Russia's emergency number was for god's sake.

The fact that I didn't know where he was anymore, or what part of the darkness he was striving in was chilling. The phone in my hands vibrated, and a haunted shriek echoed in the air.

Mine.

I didn't even think and quickly picked it up.

"I-Ivan..." I panted even though I had been standing in the same place. My breath came in ragged gasps, and my heart pounded so loudly I was sure it would give me away. Another stupid thing I did, and as realisation gnawed, I backed away on trembling legs looking towards the darkness where he was and over my shoulder where another lane was.

There was a pause and I heard shuffling from the other side as Ivan's hard voice rebounded through. "Where are you?"

My mouth hung open as an influx when I felt a shadow in my left flickering. I needed to get out of here. Now. "I-I think there is someone... following me."

"Fuck! Stay wherever you are, I'll be there soon." Ivan's voice was a distant urgency.

"It's..." I started, but my voice was a choked whisper.

Another shift and I backed away.

"Send me your fucking location. Now." I heard clanking and then the hum of a roaring vehicle through the phone.

My fingers fumbled with the phone, shaking so violently I could barely press the buttons.

I was lightheaded, but I didn't stop. I ran. Ran down to the other side of the park. I didn't know when Ivan would come, but for the time being I needed to get to the nearest street or find a bustling place or anything. I looked over my shoulder just in time to catch him standing near the bench where I was sitting earlier. I wished this was a nightmare, but there was no ounce of deceit in the way he tilted his head, and looked at me, I could feel his eyes boring into me as he bent down slightly and picked something up from the bench.

My eyes widened as my hand flew to my hair and I patted them. The pin I wore this morning, supposed to be on my head, was now between the stranger's fingers as he inspected it and then his grin widened and he pecked it.

This psycho just... kissed the pin.

It sent chills down my spine. Decimated me. Tore a shred of heart as I realised how deranged he was. Unhinged.

In my life, I had never been as frozen as I was right at that moment. And it had everything to do with his cold yet amused eyes, devoid of any care and absolutely terrifying.

I was now on the other side of the road, separated by a mere strip of asphalt, but that must have been an illusion because why did it feel like he was toying with me? Taking his sweet time playing with my fear, thriving in it. If he wanted—judging by his tall frame and the muscles I knew were hidden beneath that oversized coat—he could have chased me down and ripped out my soul like a Grim Reaper.

But to both my relief and horror, he stayed there, not making any move towards me. He wasn't planning to hunt me today, yet. And that meant this wasn't the last time I'd see him.

Flashing lights blinded my vision. And in less than a minute, a car screeched in front of me. Yellow familiar Porsche. I should be relieved; ecstatic I was saved. But that emotion never came. Instead, deep fear settled in my chest as the door of the car was slammed open but I couldn't take my eyes off him.

My vision was blocked by a familiar face, and I absently looked at him, his lips moved, and he said something, his hands holding onto my shoulders as he shook me and I was engulfed in a warm embrace. At least that's what I thought embraces should feel. Warm and comforting.

Yet, instead, more cold seeped through my skin, peeling through my epidermis and settling into my bones. I shuddered, Ivan's hands ran down my back rubbing my sides, his words a distant hum, and my eyes met a stranger's over Ivan's shoulder.

And this time, they seemed icier. Hungrier.